


In Dreams Awake

by Moselyharmless



Category: Another Eden (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-02-23 06:27:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23873797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moselyharmless/pseuds/Moselyharmless
Summary: In IDA Part III, we free the students trapped in their own Dream Worlds. But in the case of Isuka, what did she dream about? A short story inspired by the events of IDA III.
Kudos: 16





	In Dreams Awake

**Author's Note:**

> All characters and locations belong to Wright Flyer Studios (WFS). None of the characters or locations mentioned in this story belong to me.

"Isuka! Hey, Isuka!"

Isuka blinked blearily, awakened by the sound of her name. Snug under the warm covers of her bed, she gave an annoyed grunt and pulled a pillow over her head.

“Go ‘way ‘is,” she mumbled into the soft down. “Too early.”

“Too _late,_ you mean,” a young lady’s voice snapped. “I can’t believe I came all the way to Port Lezona to find you like this.” There was a clack of shoes striding over to her bed, and the pillow was suddenly yanked out of her grasp. “Come on, Isuka, it’s quarter past seven. Class starts at eight, the bus leaves in fifteen minutes, and—by the Elements— have you even showered?”

Isuka brushed her long hair off her face. She blinked again, smiling sleepily as her friend’s face came into focus. “Don’ worry, I took a bath last night… wah!”

Isuka yelped as Hismena ripped the covers back, exposing her bare arms and legs to the chilly air of her room. Sitting upright, she glared at her best friend, who smirked back while tapping a foot impatiently. 

“Alright, give me a moment,” Isuka sighed as she slipped out of bed. “I find your rushing me quite unreasonable, Hismena. What harm is there in being a little late to class on a Monday?”

“And I can’t believe what I’m hearing.” Hismena shook her head as if in disapproval. The smile on her face, though, betrayed the amusement she really felt. “Admiral Isuka, Head of IDEA, asking me why she can’t be late for class.”

“ _Former_ Admiral and Head of IDEA,” Isuka corrected as she sat by her dresser. The light blue butterflies on her favorite brush glittered in the morning light. Isuka smiled as she picked it up and hurriedly began to fix her white-gold hair. Her serene smile flashed into a grin as a thought occurred to her. “His— I know it sounds irresponsible and very strange—but just saying “former” makes me feel so… free.”

“ _Si_ , but freedom should not be abused,” her friend chided. Hismena stepped up behind her and reached for her hair. Isuka lifted the brush to hand it to her friend. Rather than take it, Hismena simply sniffed Isuka’s hair, then shrugged. “Guess your night bath will have to do.”

Isuka pouted and continued brushing her hair out. Hismena strode over to the closet on the other side of the room. From the mirror, Isuka saw her friend toss a bra, skirt and blouse, and IDA blazer—all varying color-coordinated shades of blue— onto her bed before heading out of the room. At the doorway, Hismena turned and winked at her.

“By the by, you’d better get dressed ASAP, Is. Overheard a few members of your Church plotting something on the way here. Who know what they’ll try next?”

“Hismena!” Isuka cried out indignantly. “What did you—”

“See ya at the bus!” Hismena laughed. The door clicked shut. Fuming, Isuka unbuttoned her night dress and rushed to put on her uniform.

_Why does she always do this to me,_ the former IDEAlist wondered. Though Hismena still maintained a reputation of respect due to her Lunabright name, after they had ceased IDEA operations Isuka quickly learned two things about her.

First, despite her high-born background, Hismena loved playing pranks on people close to her—and since Isuka was her best friend, she was often the target of these pranks. While potentially embarrassing, they were also harmless.

_Well, at least mostly harmless_ , Isuka reminded herself. _That stunt she pulled with the detachable_ bokken _blade has made my classmates very wary of me during Miss Cerrine’s practical tests._

What surprised Isuka more was the second thing. Hismena, against all logic, was a pranking genius. The plotting and execution of her pranks was absolutely flawless. Even with her unparalleled powers of observation, Isuka often found herself unaware of the prank until she was caught up in one. 

And she had a very bad feeling that if she didn’t get out of her room quickly enough, she was about to get caught up in another.

Slipping into her shoes, Isuka ran back to the dresser for her wallet and hair tie—both decorated with a butterfly in one way or another—then instinctively yanked open a tiny dresser drawer where she kept… nothing.

Isuka stared dumbly at the contents. Aside from an old blue cushion embroidered with golden butterflies, there was nothing else inside.

_So why did I pull it open?_ she wondered, thoroughly confused. She had prepared her side bag last night, and her wallet and hair tie were already with her. There was nothing else she needed, but Isuka felt she was still missing something.

She just couldn’t remember what it was.

“Guess it’s not important, then”, she muttered. “Can’t waste time worrying, not with my Church after me again.” Isuka grabbed her side bag from the top of her study table. As she did, the strap caught on the rose-pommeled handle of her sword, Innocence, sitting in its desk mount. 

Isuka swore as the weapon banged onto the desk. Slipping the side bag onto her shoulder, she picked up the weapon with both hands and muttered a silent apology to it. Naturally, it didn’t respond, but Isuka still felt the need to show it some respect. She moved the sword to her left side to clip onto its usual place on her belt.

Only her quick reflexes saved Innocence from falling a second time, as the sheath somehow failed to catch on anything at all. Puzzled, Isuka looked at the weapon, then looked down at her normal blue IDA uniform. The realization dawned slowly—but when it did, the former IDEAlist had to laugh at herself.

“Old habits die hard, I see,” she said softly. “In times like these, swords have no place in the hands of students.” Isuka carefully placed Innocence back in its mount, then bowed respectfully.

_Yes, no place indeed_ , she told herself. The thought filled her with a sense of comfort. As the head IDEAlist, Isuka’s goal had been to make IDA School a haven of safety for Elzion’s youth, untouched by the dangers and corruption that permeated the capital. That goal had been achieved when the Dream World cases had finally been put to rest.

But her personal dream, one known only by her closest friends, would take a few years longer yet.

_Closest… friends?_ Isuka frowned. _My closest friend is Hismena, but nobody else seems to compare, not even Claude nor Saki. Why would I think in the plural?_ The former IDEAlist pondered the thought for a bit longer, then shrugged. _Maybe it’s just me being hopeful. Though it’s been a while since IDEA disbanded, there’s still time to get to know more people._

“After all,” she said brightly, “I’m just a normal student, now.”

_And today… is just another… peaceful… day._

_**********_

Isuka barely managed to slip into the IDA-bound bus as its doors slid shut. Standing up, she willfully ignored both the stares of the students onboard and the mournful cries of the white-robed figures stranded at the City Entrance behind her. She took a quick look around the bus. Seated in the mid-left row near the window, a bob of royal blue hair remained absorbed in a gaming magazine, apparently unaware of the fracas on the platform that had occurred just seconds ago.

Isuka strode over to her sitting friend as the bus pulled away. Standing in the aisle, she folded her arms over her chest and glared crossly at the Lunabright heiress-cum-prankster.

“Glad to see you made it,” Hismena said innocently without looking up. “Fans can be such a drag sometimes, eh?”

Isuka responded by lightly punching her friend’s arm. “You tell me, oh great-and-powerful Blue-Knightrose. I’m certain that giving out personal addresses is a breach of privacy—I could sue you for that.” 

“I didn’t give your address— just casually mentioned you take a certain street every Monday on the way to the bus.” Hismena sniffed as she turned the page. “And it’s <The Knight of the Blue Rose>, you pleb. Also, never do that again-- only losers refer to usernames in real life.”

“Takes one to know one,” Isuka retorted as she sat down beside her. She glanced at the magazine that her friend was so engrossed in. “Have you not finished that thing yet? I believe you’ve been reading the same one for the past week now.”

The blue-haired girl closed the plastic-covered magazine as if it were an antique book, then slipped it carefully into her school bag with a sigh. “You don’t ‘finish’ a guide, Is,” Hismena said while wagging her finger. “You study it day in and day out, imagining how to perfect your playstyle and optimize your build within the least amount of time, so that when you get home you know exactly where you need to grind and what you need to farm for the items and levels you need to beat that one boss who keeps wrecking your team every! Damn! Time!”

Isuka giggled as Hismena punctuated her words with a passionately clenched fist. “I heard everything you said and understood nothing, His.”

“That’s because the only things in your disgustingly genius brain are butterflies, flowers, and ‘The Adventures of Detective Haus’.” Hismena threw her hands up in the air. “Heck, everytime we’ve studied together you’re buried in a Haus novel half the time, and looking up online gardening forums for the other half. Yet somehow you ace both recitation and tests, no sweat.” The blue-haired girl poked at Isuka’s ponytail done up in a black butterfly hairtie. “Hold on—how did you even fix that thing while running from your devoted Church?”

“Same way I ace the tests,” Isuka replied cryptically. “Practice.” Hismena snorted in disbelief before leaning back into her seat.

“Well, back to what I was saying, Is, you really should join me in-game some time.” The Lunabright heiress closed her eyes, and Isuka wondered if her friend was imagining the two of them playing game already. “The learning curve isn’t too steep, so a total noob like you should be able to pick up what’s happening easily enough.”

“I’ll consider it when you join me for a full session of gardening,” Isuka countered. “And no, Miss Lunabright, drinking tea while watching me work doesn’t count.”

_Miss Lunabright?_ Isuka covered her mouth in surprise. She stole a panicked glance at her friend. The title that Hismena had so detested had slipped out of her unwittingly. Isuka believed she may have gone a bit too far, even if she said it jokingly.

“Picky, picky,” Hismena mumbled. Her eyes remained closed. Isuka heaved a silent sigh of relief as a comfortable silence settled between them. It appeared Hismena didn’t hear the name— or if she did, she didn’t seem too affected by Isuka using it.

_I guess we really are good friends now,_ the former Head IDEAlist said to calm herself. _Back in IDEA, she would have probably demanded an apology._

Her thoughts were abruptly broken by a booming, metallic note that reverberated through the bus. Isuka’s attention was drawn back to the receding Clock Tower. Even from a distance, the grand building was a sight to behold. Crowned by the Great Clock, which was always accurate despite its hands never seeming to move, the Clock Tower’s elaborate, cathedral-esque façade contrasted starkly with the rectangles of glassy metal that made up most of IDA city.  
  
While admiring the view, a different view of the tower came to Isuka. During Mayu’s Dream World incident, they had gone to a Dream World version of Aqua Hills—her former home— to shoot down the Great Clock that had made her doppelganger version nigh invincible. It was also when Saki had awakened to her full power, managing to hold the Guardian-Isuka long enough for Claude’s Duon Helios to topple the Great Clock. Though Isuka had been busy fending off monsters at the time, the grand scene of the Absolute Zero Chain at full power was hard to miss.

_I wonder how those two are doing._ Isuka’s face lit up at the thought. Claude and Saki. Now that was a pairing that she somehow never saw coming. To be fair it made sense in hindsight: the confident king and the uncertain girl complimented each other perfectly, what with his yearning to lead and inspire, and her longing to cherish and protect.

A small nudge to her shoulder made Isuka turn to Hismena, who was looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

“You missing your IDEA days?” she asked.

“A little,” Isuka confessed. “They were most of my school life, after all.”

“Well they were definitely more _ideal_ than usual,” Hismena joked. Isuka rolled her eyes as her friend grinned proudly at pun. “Seriously, though,” Hismena continued, “I kinda miss them too. Being IDEA’s best lancer was an exclusive honor, but now that the IDEA part is gone, I’m being compared against that Foran girl when it comes to using a lance.” Hismena nodded appreciatively. “Gotta admit though, she’s pretty good. Why didn’t you ever recruit her? Or that brother of Saki— John? Jack?”

“Jade.”

“Eh, hard to remember him anyway,” Hismena said with a dismissive wave. “So why didn’t you get them?”

“Probably because they weren’t—”

“Don’t you dare—”

“ _Ideal_ candidates,” Isuka finished. She stuck her tongue out mockingly. “His, I’m sure you remember, but being a skilled fighter is not a top priority for an IDEAlist. If it had been, I wouldn’t have even considered recruiting Saki at all. I needed people with—”

“A strong will and a clear heart, I remember.” Hismena nodded. “And aside from being a genius, you had the strongest will and clearest heart of all, o great Admiral.”

“I told you, I’m just Isuka,” the former IDEAlist insisted.

“Whatever you say, Is.”

The Airtube platform was clearly visible now from the bus window, so both girls busied themselves with checking their bags and making sure everything was in place. The bus soon slid to a halt beside the airtube platform, and the two girls filed out of the bus with the rest of the students.

As she was alighting from the bus, Isuka saw a sleek black and white cat napping underneath a bench. While robotic cats were a common sight around Elzion, real live cats were rare—and stray live cats even rarer. Isuka assumed that it was someone’s pet that had gotten loose. As she was about to point it out to Hismena, the cat opened its eyes.

Isuka froze. A chill ran down her spine, and the ground suddenly seemed to give way.

Instead of a regular yellow, green, or black, this cat’s eyes were a chaotic swirl of red, blue, and gold. Isuka was transfixed by the unnatural colors, unheeding of the students that jostled for position around her in their rush to get in line for an air board.

_Why do I know those colors?_ she thought frantically as the cat continued staring. _Where have I seen them?_

**_[ISUKA!]_ **

A faint, familiar voice, almost like someone had shouted to her from the top of a building, reached her ears. Isuka looked up and away from the cat, but only saw the curved façade of the Airtube station, framed by the artificial trees that lined the routes. When she looked back at the bench, the cat was gone.

“Is?” Hismena’s voice was followed by the feeling of her friend’s hand on her shoulder. Isuka grabbed the hand and gripped it tightly. It was warm. It was real.

_It has to be real._

“Is, are you alright?” Isuka let go. Turning, she found Hismena massaging the hand she had grabbed, while looking worriedly at her. “Did something happen?”

Isuka shook her head. “Just feeling a bit off. I think I should drop by the clinic before class, His. Just a quick checkup. You go on ahead without me.” She leaned back in surprise as Hismena suddenly placed the back of her hand on her forehead.

“Your temp’s fine, but you really don’t look well.” Hismena stepped back, still looking worried. Isuka hoped that her friend wouldn’t insist on sticking with her for now. Comforting as the gesture would have been, something was nagging Isuka. Something that she felt she couldn’t share with her friend, no matter how much she trusted her.

“Well,” Hismena finally said, “guess you now have a reason to be late to class today.” The blue-haired girl grinned. “I’ll talk to the teacher and make up something. You rest up at the infirmary, Is.” Hismena waved goodbye, and Isuka waved back timidly as her friend disappeared into the crowd of uniforms.

_Thanks, His._ Isuka sat down at the now-catless bench, waiting for the crowd to thin out before she took a board to the H Block. _I know I can rely on you to save my skin._

A blue-black butterfly flitted out from a nearby bush and began bobbing around Isuka. The former Admiral watched it carefully, reveling in how the metallic blue of the wings would appear and disappear into the black eye-spotted undersides.

On a whim, she lifted a finger towards it. She was pleasantly surprised when it decided to come to rest for a while. The butterfly had a surprisingly huge wingspan for its body size, causing it to wobble slightly as it sought to balance on her finger.

Isuka moved it closer for a better look. But the movement disturbed the insect’s precarious balance, and it tumbled off ungracefully. Its wings flapped awkwardly in its struggle to get airborne again. The butterfly lingered for a while longer, circling around her once as if reprimanding her before flying off over the edge of the platform.

The girl sighed. She was content. Seeing the butterfly had swept the strange-eyed cat incident from her mind. Now at ease, Isuka lined up at the tail end of the crowd. She still had to head over to the Nurse’s office. Though it would make her much later than usual to the first subject, she needed an official excuse.

_It wouldn’t do if I had no evidence to back up whatever story Hismena was trying to spin,_ she reminded herself as she picked up one of the transport boards. _Best I be on my way. Hopefully that red nurse isn’t on duty today— she’ll probably diagnose me with lovesickness or something like that. Or maybe that could work…_

Board in hand, Isuka entered the tube gate, still thinking about how she was going to get out of trouble for being late.

**********

“I still can’t believe it. Lovesickness? Really?”

Isuka shrugged nonchalantly at Hismena’s outburst. “I can’t believe it either. But it worked, didn’t it?” She reached for another egg roll with her fork. “I’m more surprised you didn’t get in trouble with the teacher after.”

Hismena suddenly stabbed at the same roll to take it before Isuka could. Isuka deftly deflected her friend’s fork away, before spearing the egg roll and stuffing it into her mouth with a smug smile. Hismena frowned at her.

“Oi, don’t forget, this is my overpacked lunch that I’m sharing with you,” the blue-haired girl said with a menacing wave of her fork. “And that’s the third egg roll you’ve taken. While there’s enough for both of us, don’t go stuffing yourself.”

Isuka quickly chewed and swallowed her prize. “Well, whose fault is it that I had rush to school today?”

“If I didn’t wake you, I doubt you’d have even _been_ at school today,” Hismena retorted. She hovered a hand over one of tupperwares that Isuka was eyeing hungrily. “Don’t you dare touch those sausage slices, they’re my favorite.”

“Fine. Mind if I help myself to the sandwiches?” Isuka picked up the wrapped triangles from the large box-shaped lunchbox sitting on the table between them. Hismena waved a hand dismissively as she began digging into the sausage slices with gusto.

“Go ahead— they never put what I want in it anyway. I keep telling the cook that cucumber isn’t a sandwich filling, and he just replies that my tastes ‘must be more refined’.” Hismena curled an imaginary mustache with her pinky outstretched. “I mean, c’mon, how hard is it to make a grilled cheese sandwich? It’s literally just bread and cheese, right?”

Isuka had to cover her mouth with a hand to keep from laughing. Despite her Lunabright roots, Hismena had developed a fondness for conventional foods that would be more at home in a convenience store than a mansion kitchen. Isuka had even seen her trade a small box of eclairs for three bags of chips once.

“To be honest, though, I shouldn’t complain.” Hismena stuck another sausage slice with her fork and waved it lazily. “The stuff I get is usually better than what most other IDA students would have.”

“At least you’re aware of your own privilege,” Isuka commented wryly. Pulling her phone out, she began scrolling over to her student profile, where the grades of her most recent tests had been posted. She placed it on the table and pushed it towards Hismena before looking away. Hismena took the phone and looked at the screen suspiciously. Her eyes widened as she went over the recent test scores.

“Is, did you really fail those? They didn’t just screw up the grades and give you someone else’s?”

“Yep,” Isuka mumbled into the sandwich. “I forgot to study and got caught up with reading a Haus novel. My bad.” From the corner of her eye, Isuka saw Hismena stand up and walk behind her. Before she could turn to look, Hismena suddenly wrapped her in a headlock and began messing with her hair.

“You’re a crappy liar,” her friend snarled playfully. “I passed those stupid tests, and I was on Lord of Mana the whole evening before we took them. What really happened?”

Isuka struggled to free herself, but Hismena’s surprisingly strong arms kept her tightly in place. She relented and tapped out on her friend’s arm, pouting. “Okay, okay, you got me. I did it on purpose.”

Hismena released her friend and returned to her seat. “That was a stupid idea,” she said bluntly. “Why did you do it?”

The former Head IDEAlist stared at the sandwich in her hands. “Because back in IDEA, any kind of failure carried major repercussions—so I just wanted to try failing something inconsequential for once.”

“That’s a terribly elitist way of seeing things, and that’s coming from someone like me.” Hismena looked at her friend curiously. “So how’s this related to privilege, though?”

In response, Isuka pointed towards a nearby table, where a visibly distraught Saki was being comforted by Mayu, Jade, and another girl who seemed to be one of Saki’s friends.

“Well, when I got the results, I felt like a kindergartener that had successfully gotten away with swearing behind their mom’s back.” Isuka began chewing on the sandwich again, explaining herself between small bites. “I felt bad, but also thrilled. Then I caught a glance of Saki’s grades when she checked them at her study terminal. She’d failed the same tests as I did, but her grades were worse overall.”

“I see,” Hismena leaned on the table, cupping her face in her hands. “And how did that make you feel?”

“Still like a swearing kindergartener— except this time, their mom thought their older sister was guilty and punished her instead.” Isuka finished off the last bite of her sandwich and crumpled the paper napkin that had wrapped it. “I’ve had half a mind to apologize to Saki, in fact.”

Isuka continued watching Saki’s table, where the scenario had escalated due to the sudden arrival of Claude. While Saki and her other friend seemed pleased to see him, Mayu and Jade had wedged themselves on either side of Saki, seemingly intent on keeping the two as far apart from each other as possible.

Hismena reached over the table and motioned for Isuka to give her the wrapper, which she then tossed into her lunch box .“Why would you apologize?” the Lunabright heiress asked. “Did Saki know you failed the test on purpose? Was she expecting you to get perfect?”

Looking back at her friend, Isuka shook her head glumly. Hismena shrugged. “Then don’t drag her into your own guilt-trip. You got what you wanted: a failure without major consequences. If you feel bad about that, you deal with it yourself. Besides, Saki seems to have a lot on her plate right now.” She jerked a thumb in the direction of Saki’s table. Claude had somehow managed to spirit the timid girl away from her self-appointed guardians, who were now in hot pursuit of the fleeing pair.

The former Admiral couldn’t help smiling at the sight, in spite of herself. Seeing the main players of the early incidents living normally was already a blessing. It was a far cry from the trials they had endured while trapped in their Dream Worlds.

_Now that the cases had been solved,_ she thought to herself, _I truly hope that no one… will be… afraid…_

Though Saki’s case had been difficult, Mayu’s had been a serious challenge—no thanks, in part, to the idealized Dream-Isuka that had so faithfully guarded Mayu. Mayu’s version of her had been impossible to defeat by normal means, and had given them far more trouble than her actual Heart Guardian. 

And if it had not been for Claude and Saki—

Isuka abruptly sat upright. _Wait. That isn’t correct._ She replayed the moments leading up to the second confrontation with the Dream Isuka. Claude and Saki had been instrumental in removing the Great Clock from the equation. But shooting it down had done nothing to affect the Dream-Isuka’s speed: she had still been unrealistically faster and stronger than anyone. The Clock had been preventing something else, a trump card that had allowed them to get the upper hand.

_But what was it?_ Isuka felt a tingling in her spine, an uncomfortable sensation that she was once again forgetting something important. _Even at my fastest, I couldn’t have bested my Dream self. How did we beat her?_

“Oi.” Something cold and wet pressed against Isuka’s cheek. She let out a small shriek of surprise. Instinctively she swatted at whatever it was— and ended up knocking a wrapped ice cream bar out of a now-very-surprised Hismena’s hand. The bar landed back in the lunchbox it had come from. Isuka glared at her friend, who had raised both hands in the air even while she held on to her own frozen dessert.

“Woah, chill,” the blue-haired girl said placatingly. The worried look on her face, similar to the one she had when Isuka had grabbed her hand at the Airtube Station, now seemed to hold a bit of fear. “It’s just popsicles. I thought you might want some.”

Isuka shut her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to relax by remembering the blue butterfly she had seen earlier.

“Sorry, His,” Isuka apologized. “I do want it. Just… been a bit out of it, recently.” She reached over to take the popsicles from the lunch box. “Ever get that feeling that something’s missing even when you know everything’s fine?”

“Sometimes,” Hismena admitted while unwrapping her own dessert. “Almost like there was something important I had to do...”

Another chill ran down Isuka’s spine. Hismena’s face had become serious, and the intensity of her stare would have been frightening if it wasn’t focused on the popsicle. Before she could ask what was bothering her, Hismena bit off the end of her popsicle and started chewing on the frozen dessert. Isuka stared.

“His, what are you doing?”

Hismena cocked an eybrow. “Eating a popsicle.”

“That’s not how you eat a popsicle! You’re supposed to suck it, not bite it!” Isuka quickly unwrapped her own popsicle and put it in her mouth to prove her point.

“No, you _eat_ popsicles, which means you can bite it. Ice cream cones are what’s meant to be _licked_.” Hismena pointed the half-eaten popsicle at her friend. “Also, it’s less embarrassing. Licking a popsicle just makes you look odd, and sucking one is even worse—especially when you’re surrounded by guys.”

“It’s only weird when you point it out!” the former Admiral protested. She glanced furtively to her left and right, hoping that none of the other male students in the area were looking at them. A few suddenly seemed extremely interested in their hands or phones. She felt her cheeks flush as she pulled the popsicle out of her mouth.

“See? Told you so.” Hismena took another big bite of her popsicle through her smug smile. “Sometimes, you just gotta assert your female dominance. Don’t let them imagine.”

“Your argument makes no sense at all,” Isuka muttered as she started nibbling reluctantly at her dessert. Her teeth immediately began to protest at the act, so she began sucking on the popsicle again, avoiding eye contact with the other students as she did so.

The end of lunch bell suddenly buzzed over the speaker system, followed by the monotone voice of Disciplinary Committee Chair Ruina. She began her regular warning spiel that all IDA students should pack up and return to their classrooms to avoid disciplinary action for various infractions. A chorus of groans and protests rose up with the departing students as Ruina continued enumerating the said infractions word for word from the disturbingly lengthy list in the student handbook.

“Better finish that quickly and throw it away,” Hismena warned her friend as she stood up to fix her lunchbox. “You got lucky this morning, but I doubt that luck will save you if Ruina catches you on-camera eating dessert in the hallway.”

Isuka hurriedly chewed off the remains of her dessert, ignoring the stinging pain in her teeth as she did so. Gulping down the last of the matcha-flavored popsicle, she headed to one of the trash cans lining the hallway.

As she did, she saw Claude and Saki walking together in the distance, accompanied this time by Mayu and Jade, who both seemed to be animatedly conversing about something as well. Seeing the four of them together made Isuka realize, only then, that Hismena never really answered her earlier question. As she walked back to her friend, who now seemed to be playing some sort of game on her phone, she felt the odd, uncomfortable sensation return to her. 

Something was still missing from her memory. And she had no idea what it was.

**********

Once classes finished for the day, extracurricular activities began. Surprisingly, Hismena had volunteered to go with Isuka to her gardening club activities at the Sky Terrace. Isuka had tried to insist that she was fine, but her friend stubbornly refused to leave her side.

Isuka had been wary at first. She was convinced it was another prank, or Hismena’s way of roping her into playing that online game. It was only when Hismena began dressing up in full gardening gear— something she normally avoided like the plague— that she realized her friend was genuinely concerned for her. Isuka was touched by the gesture.

The late afternoon sun found the two girls weeding the flower bushes at the Sky Terrace. Though both were dressed in overalls and rubber boots, Isuka was wearing a simple straw hat while Hismena had opted for a blue bandanna.

“How do you even find this fun?” Hismena complained as she jabbed her trowel under a large, stringy weed.

Isuka sat back on her knees to stop for a breather, lifting her hat to wipe the sweat from her forehead.

“Fun is subjective, my dear friend,” Isuka said with the calm grace of a lector. “And for the record, I’ve never found this fun.” Picking up her trowel again, Isuka set about to easing out another clump of weeds. “I find it relaxing.”

Hismena grunted and tugged at the large weed she had attempted to dig up. The tough little plant resisted the pull for a moment before snapping, leaving the Lunabright heiress with a handful of long leaves. Isuka clicked her tongue.

“Can’t do that, His. You have to—”

“Dig up the roots or they grow back, yeah, yeah,” Hismena grumbled. She glanced at the woven basket beside her. It was practically empty and contained more soil than actual weeds. “How can something so small be such a pain to remove?”

“It’s only a pain if you use brute force.” Isuka coaxed another weed out of position with a practiced hand before levering it out with her trowel, roots and all. She brushed the soil off the roots before tossing it into her own basket, which was already halfway full of the tough little plants. “Weeds are stubborn little things—you have to get them in one go, or all your efforts will be useless.”

Hismena rolled her eyes. “Easier said than done. If I’d known how hard this’d be I’d have waited for you downstairs.” The blue-haired girl renewed her attack on the leftover weed stump.

Isuka watched her friend work. That had always been Hismena’s way—attack hard and fast. And if it didn’t work, go harder and faster. As a strategist, Isuka preferred to measure twice then cut once. But Hismena had a talent for acting quickly and following through, no matter the cost. The difference of their methods often caused them to butt heads back in the IDA Operations Room, when the safety of the students was at stake. Freed from that burden, their contrasting personalities made Isuka’s everyday student life all the more interesting.

There was a swishing sound as the door to the Sky Terrace opened behind the two girls. Both of them turned to see a familiar pony-tailed girl walk out onto the terrace. To their surprise, she was leading another familiar person, this one a shy-looking boy, by the hand. The girl’s eyes widened happily as she spotted Isuka and Hismena, and she instinctively snapped into a salute— without letting go of her companion’s hand.

Isuka and Hismena giggled as their former IDA Operator stooped to pick up her former admirer from the ground. The pony-tailed girl threw them a hasty wave before retreating with her flustered partner to a more secluded location behind the entrance.

The two gardeners shared a heavy, heartfelt sigh as the couple fled from sight. Despite being extremely popular among the students, Isuka and Hismena’s past devotion to IDEA had its downsides. Though they found time to study and had one or two hobbies to keep their stress at bay, close personal relationships had been an unaffordable luxury.

“Being the best of the best has its drawbacks, huh,” Hismena groaned. “And here I thought the boys would be all over me once I left IDEA.”

Isuka laughed. “Sorry to burst your bubble, Madam Lunabright, but I doubt IDEA was what kept the boys away from you.”

“Then what, pray tell, would be the reason both of us being single, o Admiral?” Hismena waved her trowel at the entrance in frustration. “Operator’s got a guy, Saki got _Claude_ , of all people— damn, I think we’re the only two IDEAlists without an ideal _somebody_ in our lives! Not counting your Church, of course.”

“Maybe because we’re meant for each other,” Isuka teased. Hismena sniffed haughtily.

“In your dreams. Strong independent woman that I am, I still want a good man in my life.” Hismena rocked back onto her feet from her kneeling position. “I’m gonna grab a drink from the vending machine. You want the usual? Canned tea?”

“Yes, thanks.” Isuka slid off her heels to sit on the bare grass of the Terrace. “I’ll rest for a while too. Gardening is hard work.”

As the door slid shut behind her friend, Isuka leaned back to gaze up into the sky. It was a deep blue, bright enough to gaze at but not blinding. White tufts of cloud drifted by, interrupted every now and then by the distant, faintly translucent triangles forming IDA’s artificial weather control system.

_Good afternoon,_ she thought lazily as she watched the clouds. _Good afternoon…_

Something rustled in the bushes, distracting her. As she turned to look, a flash of metallic blue shot out from the bright pink flowers of the bush, pursued by a streak of black and white. Even without clearly seeing what it was, the nape of Isuka’s neck prickled as her hair stood on end. She felt her heartbeat quicken. Blood pounded in her ears. 

Like a moth drawn to flame, Isuka watched the colors resolve into familiar shapes: a blue-black butterfly carried by ungainly wings, and a sleek, black-and-white cat with unearthly eyes. The pursuer came to an abrupt halt as the butterfly dove for the safety of another bush. As the cat turned around, Isuka found herself staring once again into a chaotic swirl of red, blue, and gold.

**_[Isuka!]_ **

That familiar voice called her name again from far away. Isuka’s eyes widened in shock.

_Aldo?_

The name had come unbidden, surfacing from a foggy corner of her brain. Memories of an unearthly sword, a young man's face, and his antiquated outfit surged through her mind.

**_[Isuka! …students… in trouble!]_ **

Cold sweat ran down Isuka’s back as Aldo’s plea echoed around her. _In trouble? But everyone is so… peaceful…_

Another wave of memories burst forth— pink hair, first on a beast, then on a young girl, followed by the lonely cries of a lost child seeking an uncaring mother.

_Mana?_

The former Admiral shivered in terror. A cold, sickening certainty threatened to claw its way out from the depths of the memories flooding into her. She curled into a ball on the grass, hands on her temples in a vain attempt to stem the tide.

**_[--pride… of… white uniform!_ ]**

The voice was clearer now—louder, as if coming from the cat itself. It had drawn closer, gazing innocently at her as she fought to repress the drowning visions.  
  
Isuka tried to glare at the wretched creature. Seeing the colors of the cat’s eyes only dragged the tortuous thoughts further into the light. Screwing her eyes shut, she curled into an even tighter ball, furiously wishing the cat would just go away…

**BONG. BONG. BONG.**

Deep, metallic clangs bulled their way into her consciousness as the Great Clock tolled the hour. Isuka heard a shuffle of paws on grass as the cat fled from her, startled by the noise. At the same time, there was a zipping sound of the Sky Terrace door sliding open, followed by a faint gasp and panicked cry from Hismena.

“Is! Isuka!”

Warmth surrounded her in a comforting embrace. Isuka slowly became aware that her throat had gone dry, as if she had been screaming. Tears continued to race down her cheeks. Looking up at her friend, she could see fear in the Lunabright heiress’ eyes. The sight told her that her breakdown had been more expressive than it had felt.

“His,” Isuka mumbled. A sob forced its way out of her throat. “His, help me—fix up…go home.”

As Hismena positioned herself under her arm to lift her up, the Great Clock stopped chiming. Isuka’s hand instinctively went to her right side, searching for a familiar chain attached to a rounded metal surface.

She found nothing.

Her stomach sank when she realized what was missing. It was the same object she had dismissed earlier that morning, after seeing an empty cushion in a small drawer.

_Of course it's not here. It's not needed in a place like this._

Isuka felt tears welling up again. Even while leaning on the steady, dependable shoulders of her friend, the truth of her resurgent memories weighed heavily upon her own.

She was trapped in a Dream World. The incidents were not yet over.

_It’s true… I still haven’t resolved it… that one case. Mana’s._

Though her heart was pleading with her to stop thinking of it, Isuka was already piecing together small incidents throughout the day that proved her right. Each one was filed away as evidence. She knew she would need it, for the inevitable confrontation with the heart of this world.

Yet the head IDEAlist couldn’t help but wish that for once— just this once— she wouldn’t have to close the case. 

**********

Isuka’s room was ablaze by the time she and Hismena returned to Port Lezona. Shielding her eyes from the glare of the orange sunset, Hismena strode over to bring the blinds down while Isuka soberly took off her shoes and side bag. She found herself thinking of the cushioned drawer she had ignored earlier that day. Isuka walked to the dresser and pulled it open. Perhaps what had gone missing could have magically reappeared.  
  
It hadn’t.

Isuka shut the drawer. She was exhausted. Taking off her stiff blue blazer, she tossed it onto the back of her dresser chair. Without bothering to change clothes or undo her hair, the head IDEAlist sprawled back-first onto her bed and stared at the sunset-stained ceiling.

Motors suddenly whirred, and a dark shadow slowly crept over the red-orange glow of her room. As the blinds came down, the automatic light sensors caught the drop in ambient light. They immediately flared to life, bathing the room in soft white.  
  
Another memory awoke with the sight: white walls on a space station, missing children, a young man from a different time drawing his sword beside her—and an android masquerading as a childhood memory.

_Curio..._

“That guy?” A derisive _hmph_ interrupted her musings, making Isuka realize she had said the name out loud. “Your estranged ‘sibling’?” Isuka turned her head as Hismena sprawled stomach-first onto the bed.

“The EGPD caught him months ago, remember? After the Dream Worlds were solved, but before we dissolved IDEA.” The Lunabright heiress had a wistful look on her face. “That was the happiest I’d ever seen you.”

_And that, right there, is the final nail in the coffin._

Isuka felt her heart shattering again. Hismena was so straightforward, so sincere.

_So perfectly recreated._

“At the time,” Hismena continued, idly twirling her hair, “I didn’t know why you were so happy. But after you told me, I was just so happy for—Isuka?”

Isuka rolled onto her side, and the blue-haired girl’s words trailed off when she saw the smile. It was a terminal smile— the smile of a bedridden patient listening to a doctor’s lies.

“Is? What’s wrong?”

Levering herself up into a sitting position, Isuka continued smiling sadly. Then, timidly, she asked, “Hey… what do you really look like?”

Hismena’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean? I’ve got beautiful royal blue hair, piercing blue eyes, flawless white skin—”

Isuka shook her head slowly. “Please stop. If you truly wish to protect me, don’t make this any harder that it has to be.”

Silence hung in the air as the two girls stared at each other. Isuka held her friend’s gaze, knowing that if she followed her heart and backed out now, there would be no escape for her from this place. Finally, slowly, the being that had assumed Hismena’s form drew itself up into a sitting position as well. Her sad smile mirrored Isuka’s own. Though she didn’t want to admit it, Isuka was unnerved at seeing Hismena but knowing with absolute certainty that it was not Hismena before her. 

“How did you see through the dream?” Isuka’s Heart Guardian asked calmly.

“I didn’t, at first,” Isuka admitted. She drew her knees up to her chest. “I really thought I’d solved the Dream World cases, that everyone was safe, and that we stopped IDEA operations.”

“Then how—”

A sudden meow from the bedside made both girls jump in surprise. They looked down to see the strange-eyed black and white cat looking back at them expectantly. The Guardian looked at Isuka, confused.

“Why do you have a cat?” she asked. “Nothing in your memories suggested you owned a pet, and certainly not one with such strange eyes.”

“That’s because I never did.” Isuka stretched her hands out to the cat, but it dodged away and hid under her bed. She folded her hands away gracefully at the apparent rejection. “Seeing that cat— whatever it is— caused me to hear voices from a certain time-travelling swordsman I considered a good friend.” A thought Isuka frowned as a thought crossed her mind. “A friend, mind you, that was conspicuously absent from this Dream World of mine. Why was Aldo not here?”

“We copied everything from your memories perfectly, but it was your subconscious that chose the faces you wished to see.” The Guardian shrugged. “Perhaps you did not wish to see this Aldo person in your normal student life.”

“I highly doubt that— but then again, I suspect I shall be seeing him again soon enough. He always finds a way to help his friends out when they need him the most.” Isuka pulled her butterfly hair tie loose, and her golden-white hair flowed down onto her shoulders. “Back to my earlier question, though: what do you really look like?” 

Guardian-Hismena shook her head. “I cannot answer your question.”

Isuka raised an eyebrow. “Why not?”

“Here and now, I am in this form—and thus I truly resemble Hismena Lunabright of IDEA. However, the true forms that you have seen, such as those in the worlds of Saki and Mayu, are programmed as a last-ditch effort to rid the Dream World of external intruders and preserve the dream-state.” The Guardian stretched her hands out in front of her, examining them.

“But surely you could predict the possible forms you may take,” Isuka pressed.

“Perhaps,” the Guardian admitted. “Except that running the Dream World already takes up a significant amount of power from us. Unlike the dreamers themselves, Guardians do not have the luxury of imagination. We know that the power to transform into something else is there, but we cannot access our true form until the conditions are right.”

“That makes sense,” Isuka agreed. “Forget my earlier question. I quite prefer you in that form, here at the end.”

Not-Hismena blinked. “Your certainty that this is the end is quite—”

“Brash? Bold?” Isuka tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “It is. But being my Heart Guardian, you know just as well that I’m unstoppable when I have all the facts.”

Guardian-Hismena slumped back, raising her hands in defeat. “That much is true. Against the dreamer themselves, we find ourselves quite powerless.”  
  
Melancholy silence followed the statement. Isuka had to look away from her Guardian’s face. Though she had worked up the courage to confront her own Guardian, she had underestimated its ability to replicate emotions using Hismena’s face.

_Or rather,_ Isuka corrected herself, _I underestimated my emotional reaction to seeing Hismena look so broken and defeated._

“You may find this request unusual,” the Guardian suddenly said with a reluctant smile, “but I am curious to know what other things allowed you to see through this simulation. Surely, one cat could not have been enough to derail it entirely?”

“True.” Isuka slid off the bed and began pacing the room. “Aside from your most recent gaffe with Curio— whom Hismena would not have known about at all, as only Aldo was with me when we foiled his plans at the Xeno-Domain— there were two other things.”

Isuka lifted a finger. “The first: the progression of time. Though the Great Clock would toll, and the day would pass, there was no real passage of time. I know this because in the real world, my pocketwatch was indispensable to me.” She patted her right pocket for emphasis. “I never went anywhere without it. Knowing the time and what was to come kept me sane in my hectic life as the Head IDEAlist. But in a Dream World with no need for time, there was no need for an accurate, time-telling gadget such as a pocketwatch.”

The Guardian huffed. “Granted, that was one of our greatest difficulties. We could simulate general time, such as the tolling of the Great Clock, and the passing of the day from morning to evening. But the precise progression of time in a Dream—that is something that still eludes us.”

“Strange,” Isuka commented. “I would have expected all Guardians to be capable of replicating or controlling time, such as in Mayu’s Dream World.” Isuka lifted another finger. “Which brings me to my second point: my memories of the other Dream Worlds.”

“How so?”

“Somehow, my memories of the Incidents were tampered with to remove the presence of Aldo—almost as if to reconcile his non-existence in my Dream World.” The Head IDEAlist folded her hands on her lap. “While we may have resolved the Saki case without him, the problem with removing Aldo from Mayu’s case is that he was essential to the success of that mission. Without Aldo’s power to control and manipulate time, we would have never bested Mayu’s Dream version of myself.” 

Guardian-Hismena suddenly hid her face in her hands. Isuka was surprised to see her embarrassed. “Very well, we admit it—we were not truthful about your selective memories on Aldo.”

Isuka crossed her arms over her chest, as a parent catching their child in a barefaced lie would. “I suspected as much. Let me ask again: why did you erase Aldo from my Dream World?”

“It was not so much ‘erased’, as ‘were unable to replicate’,” the Guardian confessed. “For reasons even I do not understand, a faithful replication of Aldo and his sword caused far too many errors that threatened to crash the simulated Dream World.” The Guardian peeked at Isuka through her fingers. “So rather than attempt to copy him and work out the problems, I took the quicker route and decided to remove all traces of him in your memories, hoping they would adjust to compensate.”

“They did adjust,” Isuka said coldly, “But I eventually caught on to the lapse. You’re surprisingly underhanded for someone who is supposed to be an extension of my psyche.” The Admiral pointed an accusing finger at her Guardian. “For the record, I do not appreciate anyone—not even myself—tinkering with my memories.”

“I do apologize.” The Guardian said regretfully. A frosty silence followed. Guardian-Hismena fidgeted with the hem of her school skirt. “On another note—how about this simulation of the Lunabright Heiress? Was it perfect?”

“Almost,” Isuka replied truthfully. “It was very convincing, and I appreciate you took that form instead of someone else, like Claude.”

“If it’s any comfort to you, your deepest desires held nothing about him.” Guardian-Hismena said with a giggle. “Hismena seemed a better fit for your Dream World.” The Guardian frowned again. “But what made this simulation of her imperfect? We took every detail from your own perfect memories.”

“That was the third issue.” Isuka lifted another finger to raise the point. “Had you really been Hismena, even as best friends you wouldn’t have allowed me to call you a Lunabright without repercussions. No matter how much I depended on her in IDEA, I never asked her to use—or called her by— the name Lunabright.”  
  
Isuka smiled wistfully. “It was the one thing she explicitly insisted I ignore when she applied for IDEA. Even if we could have been friends in real life, I could never have used that name around her.”

Guardian-Hismena sighed dismissively. “That is what you believe.”

“That is what I know,” Isuka retorted. The Guardian’s glib tone combined with Hismena’s judging look had struck deep, hitting a sore spot that had been gnawing at her heart for a long time. “And I know, because I observed, judged and evaluated all my subordinates as the Head IDEAlist. I knew their strengths, their weaknesses, their fears and their dreams.”  
  
Her eyes blazed fiercely, and her voice rose. Guardian- Hismena shrank back in surprise. “I had to, to make the perfect team that could protect IDA. Not only against clear and present dangers, but also from those that lurked in the shadows. I relied on them to be my eyes, my ears, my hands and feet—and in exchange, they relied on me to be their brain. Their Admiral, their strategist, with a steady hand and an indomitable will.”

Hot tears rolled down Isuka’s cheeks. She made no attempt to wipe them away. Proud as she was of IDEA, here in the Dream World her innermost feelings were easily laid bare. Behind the pride of the white uniform was a secret that none, save her own Heart Guardian, could have ever known. Odd as it was, she felt— no, she knew— that this was going to be the first and last time she could express herself out loud to someone.

Even if for the most part, that someone was an unreliable, artificial extension of her psyche masquerading as a girl she truly wished to befriend.

“And so I aided them to the best of my abilities, serving a greater purpose as the genetically-enhanced human I was engineered to be.” Isuka felt her voice cracking, but she didn’t care. “I was fulfilled. I had a mission, a vision, and the means to achieve my goals. I should have been happy—after all, isn’t finding their true calling in life what every human being aspires for?

“But it wasn’t enough for me. Selfish thing that I am, I wanted something more. More than fulfillment, more than success, something all the bright minds and strong hearts at IDEA could never give me.”

Isuka hesitated for a moment. The relief that flooded her heart from being able to share what she was truly thinking had already lifted a great weight from her. But expressing her greatest dream, which she had carried all those years since she had been labeled ‘Seeker’, was more difficult that she had anticipated.

As if sensing the uncertainty, Guardian-Hismena got up from the bed. The Guardian took Isuka’s hands, holding them tightly while giving her an encouraging smile. Isuka looked straight into the piercing blue eyes, the same ones she had so relied upon in the real world. Seeing herself reflected, the Admiral found the courage to say her greatest wish out loud.

“I wanted to be free. To wake up late. To bend the rules. To get away with stupid excuses. I wanted to fail without risking the lives of others—or just laugh with a friend, leaning on their shoulder. Not an Admiral, not the perfect, idolized Head of IDEA—to just be Isuka Traumerei, IDA student.”

Isuka and Guardian-Hismena hugged each other warmly. Though her eyes were tear-stained, she was no longer crying. Right there and then, Isuka found herself in an impossible scenario, one that could never happen anywhere else but in her dreams. And she wanted to enjoy it for as long as she could.

"Thank you, His," Isuka whispered softly with her eyes closed. "Even though it's just a dream, I'll never forget this."

She felt a hand stroke the back of her hair gently, and a whisper in her ear.

“I’ll see you around, Is.”

The warmth in her arms abruptly vanished, replaced by the sensation of a thousand powdery feathers brushing past her. Isuka kept her eyes shut, clinging desperately to the fading warmth before succumbing to the temptation to look.

When she opened her eyes, her entire room had faded into a washed-out white. The only things left were vague outlines of items and furniture. Her bed, her dresser, the books in their shelves—everything looked like an uncolored sketch. Even sound itself seemed to have vanished, leaving an eerie, oppressive silence of nothingness. The only spot of color was a brief flash of blue as a butterfly flitted out the now-open doorway leading to nowhere.

Looking down at herself, Isuka saw that she was back in her pristine white uniform. She could feel the weight of Innocence sitting in its sheath along her belt. Reaching up, she felt the black-gold butterfly hair clip sitting in its usual place. And in her right pocket…

Her pocketwatch was still missing. Which meant that she hadn’t escaped her Dream World just yet. Isuka frowned and looked at the room around her, hoping to catch a glint of gold among the faded outlines of what used to be her room.

Something warm and furry suddenly brushed against her side and under her arm. Isuka started in surprise. Looking down, she watched the strange-eyed cat slip onto her lap. In its mouth, as if it were a helpless kitten, it carried a butterfly-engraved golden pocketwatch.

The Admiral sighed. Illogically improbable as it was, the cat finding her watch somehow fit into the situation perfectly. Petting the cat gently, she held out a hand to allow it to give the timepiece back to her. It purred loudly before dropping the pocketwatch into her outstretched palm.

As the watch’s familiar weight settled into her hand, Aldo’s voice broke through into the blankness of her sketchbook room.

**[Isuka? We have to still save Mana!]**

_Indeed we do, Aldo,_ Isuka mused. _If Mana is not safe, then neither are we— nor are the students of IDA._ Flipping the watch open with practiced ease, she found that it had stopped with both hands at twelve.

_A time fit for a fairytale,_ she thought to herself. She started twisting the knob at the top delicately. Though normally discrete, the jagged tone of clicking clockwork cut through the quiet. She nodded with approval as the second hand sprung to life.

As she shut the watch with a _click_ , a blue-and-black butterfly landed on her hand. Isuka smiled.

“Just as stubborn as she is,” she whispered to the creature that had spread its wings while resting. The butterfly held on to her hand as she placed it on chest and closed her eyes, focusing on the rhythmic ticking of the pocketwatch.

_I will solve this case. I must find true peace... and if this is just an illusion..._

**[“Then I can’t take off my white uniform just yet!”]**

Dream and dreamer were swallowed up in a bright flash of light, leaving behind an empty digital void.

**********

“Isuka! Hey, Isuka!”

“Aldo?”

Isuka’s eyes snapped open at the sound of Aldo’s voice. Looking around, she found herself standing in the middle of a medieval-esque town market, where brightly-colored tents filled with barrels and fruit trays lined the streets.

_Ah,_ she thought wistfully. _It seems I have returned._

Her time-traveling companion was also there, standing in front of her. Although Aldo wore an expression of obvious relief, she felt that it was somehow tinged with a smidgen of guilt—as if he knew he had interrupted something precious.

_Did—did he hear everything I said in my Dream World?_ The Head IDEAlist panicked for a moment. Aside from the potential embarrassment, remembering her desire to remain in the Dream World made her feel incredibly guilty. _Sorry Aldo_. _I need to know what you know._

“Didn’t the school become peaceful?” Isuka asked Aldo, feigning confusion. “I thought I could finally be a normal student.”

Aldo’s sad but relieved smile immediately made Isuka regret her ploy. “I’m sure you have a lot of questions,” the young man reassured her, “but you’ll remember soon enough.”

_Aldo… you’re way too nice, sometimes,_ Isuka thought bitterly. _I owe you a sincere apology after all this is done._

“Anyway,” Aldo continued, “rest here until you calm down.” Noticing Aldo looking past her, she turned to see what had caught his attention. What she saw horrified her.

A four-legged shadow aimlessly wandered in circles behind her, while a dozen others either stood stock-still or lay stretched out in various places on the paved road. Isuka realized their figures were similar to Mana’s old shadow form, back when she had still been a Beast. Adding her realization to the apparent lack of any other figure resembling a human helped Isuka come to a grim conclusion: the shadows were the trapped population of IDA.

Shame at her wish to remain in her Dream World threatened to overwhelm Isuka. She leaned back against one of the nearby barrels to support herself.

“Okay… I think I’ll take you up on that.” Isuka closed her eyes and hung her head dejectedly. Aldo placed a steady hand on her shoulder to comfort her. When Isuka didn’t react, he patted her shoulder gently before moving into the scattered mass of shadow-beasts, calling out for Claude and Saki as he did so.

Hearing Aldo’s voice recede into the distance, Isuka opened her eyes to look down at her hands. Both were tensed tightly into fists. She uncurled her hands slowly, her fingers still trembling.

_This is bad,_ she thought to herself. _Need to get a grip._ Isuka brought out her pocketwatch, pausing to look again at the familiar engravings on the cover. An intricately detailed figure of a butterfly sat in the center, encircled by words— a quote that had stuck with her, from a book she read long ago, when she was young. She mouthed the words silently as she ran a finger over them.

_For our truest life is when we are in dreams awake._

Isuka flipped the cover up. To her surprise, a small blue-black butterfly lay spread out on the watch face, wings and antenna waving slightly. Freed from its temporary prison, it flitted off the watch to rest again on her hand, gentle as a kiss, before zipping away towards the town gates. Isuka marveled at how such a small pair of wings had so much power—enough, even, to blow away the cloud of regret menacing her heart.

As the butterfly disappeared from sight, Isuka noticed Mana and Hismena standing near the gates. Like Aldo, the two girls seemed to be searching among the shadow beasts, calling to them and trying in vain to wake them from their dreams. She shook her head as she watched Hismena grab at a shadow beast, only for her hands to pass straight through. Before Hismena could try again, Mana pulled at her sleeve and pointed in Isuka’s direction.

The Head IDEAlist raised a hand to acknowledge them as they both started jogging towards her. Glancing back down at the watch, Isuka noticed that while the second hand continued to tick, it was still stuck at twelve. She pulled the knob and began adjusting the time. Strangely, even though the knob would click, the minute and hour hands refused to budge. It seemed that even an advanced AI like Mother was having difficulty simulating time.

_Or perhaps_ , she mused as she observed the second hand make another uninterrupted round, _as in an actual dream, it’s natural for a Dream World to be timeless._ Isuka closed the pocket watch gently. _If we assume that to be the case, that could only mean we’re still in a Dream World. But whose?_

“Isuka!” A pair of voices broke through her thoughts The Admiral looked up to see Mana and Hismena standing before her. Both wore very different expressions. Mana looked like she had just been crying, and was about to burst into tears again at any minute. Hismena, on the other hand, seemed to be trying to mask her joy and relief with a comically straight face. Isuka acknowledged them with a nod and brief smile each. She found herself lingering a bit longer with Hismena, until the blue-haired girl relented and smiled back.

Her smile was terribly awkward. It was as if IDA’s best lancer couldn’t figure out whether to be embarrassed at the attention or proud of it. Isuka had to consciously fight down the urge to giggle at the sight. Though the girl before her was a far cry from the expressive Hismena of her own Dream World, knowing that it really her and not a mere simulation smiling back made Isuka happy.

Assuming her usual commanding persona, the Admiral greeted the two girls. “Welcome back, both of you. Unfortunately, we’ll have to save pleasantries for later— IDA has need of us.”

Isuka, Head IDEAlist of IDEA, stood up straight and proud. Her white cape fluttered slightly as she adjusted her white uniform. Looking back in the direction that Aldo had gone, she was pleased to see that he had somehow brought Claude and Saki back to normal. The sight gave her hope: terrible as the situation looked, it seemed there was a way to turn it around. Isuka signaled for Hismena and Mana to follow as she strode towards the only other human trio standing among the beasts.

_For the peace and security of IDA, my dreams must wait,_ she thought to herself. _But on the day we can stand without IDEA, I will return to that idyllic Eden_. Tucking away a few errant strands of her golden-white hair, her fingers briefly brushed against the black butterfly nestled there _._

_I hope that, then, I can laugh with His again._


End file.
